1. Technical Field
This invention relates to protective head gear used in a variety of sports venues to protect against head related injuries caused by impact forces, including micro-traumatic brain injuries, received thereto during use.
Sports related head injuries are a growing problem in organized sports, such as football even with the required mandatory use of helmets, head injuries occur in increasing numbers in frequency. Research has indicated that not only a single high energy impact to the head is responsible for player's brain concussion, but just as important is the repetitive accumulative damage that the player receives by multiple head impacts over time, also known as micro-traumatic brain injuries. A number of factors influence the increased rates of head impacts during play including the evolution of the style of tackling and running and blocking has changed. Modern player style leads to higher head injury rates wherein players suffer more multiple mild to severe concussions in the course of play than in the past.
2. Description of Prior Art
Protective head gear typical helmets have been developed and worn by individuals in many sports activities to protect the user from penetration impact to the user's head by multiple angular impacts thereto.
Prior art helmets typically have a hard outer casing with a padded interior in direct contact with the player's head. Such helmets generate an initial high impact shock wave from their hard outer casing in an attempt to mitigate it by the internal layer or layers of shock absorbing material.
A number of prior art patents have attempted to address this issue by modifying the impact surface of the helmet, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,155 which discloses a protective monolithic helmet pad positioned over the top of the helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,888 illustrates a helmet cover for encasing the helmet with a thick layer of resilient foam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,082 discloses a sports helmet having a rigid shell with an outer soft covering thereover to absorb impacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,681 describes a form fitting protective cover apparatus for a helmet overlying the entire surface thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,692 shows an improved protective head gear having a number of preformed protective pads that are removably affixed to areas on the outer surface of the helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,724 claims an apparatus for enhancing absorption and dissipation of impact forces on a helmet. The apparatus has a protective pad having a rigid or semi-rigid insert sandwiched by soft pad material thereabout.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,586 a supplemental protective pad is disclosed for a sports helmet wherein a pad is formed with a number of upstanding protrusions of varying shapes and sizes to compress and absorb energy upon impact.